Feedback: Bill Schuette on why he wants to kill Obamacare tax credits

Feb. 27, 2014

The rollout of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act has been plagued by a series of legal and practical problems:

■ Thousands of Americans could not keep their health care plan.

■ Thousands more have seen their health care bills skyrocket.

■ Parents are being denied specialty coverage for sick children because of shrinking networks of doctors.

■ Millions of workers face fewer hours on the job because of the cost of Obamacare to employers, as businesses switch employees from full-time to part-time status

The latest problem surrounding Obamacare has to do with IRS tax credits — now the agency has ignored the plain language of the Affordable Care Act to create its own tax policy. A recent Free Press story raises questions about my lawsuit against Obamacare and the potential effect on those credits.

As someone who negotiated a five-year rate freeze on Blue Cross Medigap coverage for seniors, I am a strong supporter of health care affordability. This lawsuit is not about affordability. Rather, it has to do with the constitution, separation of powers and my oath of office.

On the day I was sworn in as Michigan’s attorney general, I took an oath to defend the Constitution. That is why I am opposing this attempt by the president to rewrite Obamacare through executive action. It is, after all, a basic truth of our form of government that the Constitution entrusts Congress, not the president, with the authority to pass or amend laws.

Yet that is precisely what President Obama is attempting to do. The IRS, an executive agency, has passed a rule that contradicts the Affordable Care Act. But the IRS’ limited authority to make rules does not allow it to override the will of Congress.

President Obama’s attempt to rewrite the statute is, frankly, an acknowledgment that the law is fundamentally flawed. Obamacare has made health care coverage so expensive that tax credits are required to keep people from going broke paying for it. But under our constitution’s separation of powers, no president may ignore the Constitution while trying to fix mistakes.

The President has not sent Obamacare back to the Congress or asked for congressional support of his I.R.S. changes because he knows this massive federal government overreach into health care would never again pass the Congress.

Constitutions are not meant to be convenient; they are meant to be followed. I am not a cafeteria Constitution attorney general, picking and choosing which law or which article to uphold or ignore. My job is to defend the constitutions of the United States and the State of Michigan. I will faithfully discharge my duty, and that means opposing this end-run of the Constitution.